Fire-screen



F. RUDOLPH.

EN. No. 390,140. Patented Sept. 25, 1888.

nire raras FRANKLIN RUDOLPH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-SCREEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,140, dated September 25, 1888.

(No model.)

T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN RUDOLPH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in FireScreens, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a fire-screen formed of a material which will withstand injury from the effect of heat to a high degree and be flexible, and thus capable of ready adjustment in its operative position before a lire-place, and at the same time be an attractive piece of furniture and possess strength and durability and lightness to render it easily portable.

To this end my invention consists in the general as well as in the particular construction hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings, Figure l is a view in elevation of my improved fire-screen; Fig. 2, a broken, partly sectional, view of the adjacent edges of two contiguous sections, showing one way of hinging the sections together, 'and Fig. 3, a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a modification.

A is the screen, comprising any number of sections, B, (usually three or four,) hinged together, as shown. rlhe sections B are of thin sheet metal, and may be strengthened along their upper and lower edges, q and g', respectively, by turning the metal over upon itself, and along` their lateral edges by bending the metal to form beads r, which also serve to receive rods p, longer than the beads mand which project from opposite endsthereof.

C C are feet provided at the lower corners of the sections B to support the screen, and D D ornamental heads or knobs provided at the upper corners thereof. The feet C and knobs D, except those at the extreme lateral edges of the screen, receive each and rmly hold the two, respectively, upper and lower projecting ends of the rods p at the adjacent edges of contiguous sections B, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus serve to retain the latter in pivotal connection. The ends of the rods p are driven into the feet and knobs, or soldered therein, to secure them against removal. The

feet C and knobs D at the extreme lateral edges of the screen, where no pivotal joint is required, are secured to the respective ends of single rods p.

When the screen is constructed as above described, the rods p, running the full length of the beads fr, tend, besides affording hinge joints, materially to strengthen the screen. However, the inodication shown in Fig. 3 would serve effectually to hinge the sections together and in a measure to strengthen them. In Fig. 3 rods o or staples are fastened to each of the intermediate heads, D, and feet C, and extend a short distance into the adjacent beads of contiguous sections B, the beads being slotted transversely, as shown at n, at a point, in each instance, traversed by the respective rod o, upon which latter, after its iusertion into the bead, a stop, m, is formed (with a drop of solder, for instance) to extend through the slot n and retain the rod o against withdrawal.

While I prefer to employ knobs D, they are not indispensable, as other means may be employed for securing the ends of rods r together. They may also be dispensed with, if desired,rwhere a single rod is employed, as in the modification shown in Fig. 4t.

The knobs D and feet C may be either of wood or metal, and should be ornamental.

The sections B may be of any variety of sheet metal desirable for the purpose, though I prefer to employ sheet-iron, on account of the comparative inexpensiveness of the metal itself and the various economical ways of ornamenting it known to the art, which render it highly attractive, while at the same time the ornamentation is not injuriously affected by heat in the use to which the screen is put.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A portable nre-screen comprising sections B, of sheet metal, having beads r on their lateral edges, rods p, extending into and projecting from the ends of the beads and connected together in pairs from adjacent extremities of the beaded edges, and feet C, substantially as described.

2. A portable fire-screen comprising sections B, of thin sheet metal, having beads r on their lateral edges, rods p, extending into and projecting from opposite ends of the beads 1*, and knobs D and feet C, secured to the projectingvends of the rods and serving with the latter to secure the sections pivotally together, substantially as described.

FRANKLIN RUDOLPH.

In presence of- J. W. DYRENFORTH, GHAs. E. GoRroN.

IOO 

